Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

[BCMaraniac]

Montana,

I hate it when these guys get mean. I have a Bresse who has been ugly when I have gone into his pen. It started when I carried an orange feed bucket into his pen and he came after it(another BYCer said he had a rooster attack his orange riding mower). I whacked him with my plastic feed scoop a couple of times, and changed the color of the bucket, and he has settled down. I always carry the scoop in my hand when I go in, and he respects it. If it had persisted or if it returns, he will meet the same fate as your guy. I just hope I get some Bresse chicks first.

 

[ronott1]

Hey ya'll, haven't posted here since July when I had to cull for the first time. I had 3 more cockerels than I had planned, so they went to freezer camp. I kept my favorite roo...the one picked out as the intended roo...and named him Zeus.

Unfortunately, Zeus is not a good boy. At all. He attacks me, my kids, and my mom. His attacks on me are few and far between...I've been asserting my dominance and he knows who's boss...I think he just likes to test me sometimes. I have taught my boys, and my mom, how to handle him and put him in his place. This has been going on for 3 months. I have given him chance after chance to correct his aggressive behavior, and he keeps failing.

Last week was the defining moment when he took top spot on the freezer camp list. He went after my mom feet first...if she hadn't been quick enough, he woulda took her eye out. That same day he chased my 8 year old. No more.

I have been putting it off for a week now. He is so beautiful...it breaks my heart that I couldn't correct his bad behavior. I raised him from a day old...he is now 10 months old. The only guy with his 8 girls. I'm bummed.

Tomorrow is the day. A friend of mine is giving me an Easter Egger cockerel...18 weeks old. My plan is to remove Zeus from the flock and introducing the new roo all in the same day.

I am not looking forward to this at all. But I know it needs to be done. I can't give an aggressive rooster to someone knowing he could cause the new owners harm.

Thanks for listening, just needed to share.

Here's Zeus:

He is very nice looking. Too bad he is mean.

He will need to be moisture cooked. A Pressure cooker will work too.

 

[fisherlady]

Hey ya'll, haven't posted here since July when I had to cull for the first time. I had 3 more cockerels than I had planned, so they went to freezer camp. I kept my favorite roo...the one picked out as the intended roo...and named him Zeus.

Unfortunately, Zeus is not a good boy. At all. He attacks me, my kids, and my mom. His attacks on me are few and far between...I've been asserting my dominance and he knows who's boss...I think he just likes to test me sometimes. I have taught my boys, and my mom, how to handle him and put him in his place. This has been going on for 3 months. I have given him chance after chance to correct his aggressive behavior, and he keeps failing.

Last week was the defining moment when he took top spot on the freezer camp list. He went after my mom feet first...if she hadn't been quick enough, he woulda took her eye out. That same day he chased my 8 year old. No more.

I have been putting it off for a week now. He is so beautiful...it breaks my heart that I couldn't correct his bad behavior. I raised him from a day old...he is now 10 months old. The only guy with his 8 girls. I'm bummed.

Tomorrow is the day. A friend of mine is giving me an Easter Egger cockerel...18 weeks old. My plan is to remove Zeus from the flock and introducing the new roo all in the same day.

I am not looking forward to this at all. But I know it needs to be done. I can't give an aggressive rooster to someone knowing he could cause the new owners harm.

Thanks for listening, just needed to share.

Here's Zeus:

He is indeed an impressive boy... but you are right to cull him... there are too many nice roosters out there to choose from, no need to pass along the genetics of a mean one. I'm sorry you have to cull one you liked so well but unfortunately there is just no way to know until they mature. We hatched out 3 BR roos in January, one was a very nice build and put on weight quick, but unfortunately he was nasty and so were his flockmates, so all 3 went to the freezer by 6 months. In fact, 7 of the 8 eggs from that hatch were roos and all but one went to the freezer. Sometimes it just works out that way.

 

[gypsychicken]

So, so, sorry. It's hit or miss with Roo's. This happens all the time. It's their nature to protect their flock, and you are perceived as the predator, it's all a part of nature.You gave him a beautiful life, and he'll give you a beautiful meal.

 

[MontanaDolphin]

Thanks ya'll for the support. He went to freezer camp yesterday in the late morning. It sucked. I didn't hesitate though...I knew if I did, I'd change my mind.

I got two new boys...one's my mom's, the other is mine. Hers is actually the cockerel I was going to pick up. But I saw another one who was just so darn cute, I took him instead.

Mine is a Chocolate Orpington Bantam.


Mom's is the one I had already picked out before, so she took him since I fell in love with the Chocolate. He is an EE...mama is an Ameraucana, daddy is a LARGE Chocolate Orpington:

 

[Arielle]

We have all been watching far too many Disney Cartoons. Chickens are MEAT AND EGGS. Domestication of animals allowed man/woman to do things like hybridize plants, spin wool, enrich the brain with nutrients meat can provide. It helps if you can separate MEAT from PETS. They are not the same. It's still not the best day on the farm, but then, you have yourself some frickin' yummy chicken.

It gets easier and easier with time.

We have two types of animals on our farm: pets and not pets. We don't eat our pets. Beleive me we have tried-- the meat sits on the plate and I can't eat it.

 

[jajeanpierre]

So, so, sorry. It's hit or miss with Roo's. This happens all the time. It's their nature to protect their flock, and you are perceived as the predator, it's all a part of nature.You gave him a beautiful life, and he'll give you a beautiful meal.

I could do with some cockerel advice.

I have a couple of cockerels that probably need to go to freezer camp. Both are very good quality and I had wanted to get chicks from them. They are from one of the foremost breeders of exhibition Ameraucanas.

Both cockerels are starting to rush me a bit, one is by far worse than the other. They are almost 9 months old. They free range in my front, so that is problematic. They are the two more dominant cockerels.

I have too many cockerels for the number of hens in this LF group, four cockerels to three pullets. The sex-ratio imbalance is temporary until the spring chicks arrive and I process the two unwanted cockerels. There is no fighting. Everyone knows their place. They are not particularly sexually aggressive to the hens. I'm sure that will change come spring.

Two of the four cockerels are definitely not good quality and not the color I want to breed. (They are wheatens, and I want to breed in the blue/black/splash colors range.) I have just been procrastinating processing them. I have every excuse down pat--no one has more or better excuses to not process birds than I have! The current excuse is that they are suffering from fowl pox (how can I get a mosquito-borne disease in November in south central Texas!), so I am waiting until they have completely healed before they are processed. They are the two bottom cockerels so haven't given me any grief. They don't bother the pullets and they don't bother me.

The cockerel that is starting to be really problematic is the nicest show quality bird. He really is beautiful. I would like to get chicks from him, but wonder if his being a bit over vigilant protecting his flock is a problem that he is going to pass on. After all, he is only doing what I want him to do, which is protect the flock. I plan to buy another dozen or so chicks from the breeder next spring, so he will be replaced, and if I don't get a decent cockerel, I am sure the breeder will be able to sell me one of his culls, which could be a very nice bird. In the meantime, I think I need a cockerel to protect the three girls.

In order to get chicks from him, I will have to separate the pullets for at least three weeks (the breeder's suggested time frame) so I don't have any wheaten genes in them. I had thought wheaten crossed with splash would be easy to see in the chicks and if I ended up with some, I could just keep them as Easter Eggers, but I believe I won't be able to tell the ones that carry a wheaten gene, so I don't want to risk that. I think that I really needed to separate the pullets for 2 months just to be sure they are cleaned out. Plus, I will be using Silkies as incubators, and I'll have to wait until they are in the mood to be broody.

If I separate the pullets, I need to build some sort of little coop for them which could take forever at the rate my husband finishes projects. I have all kinds of pens I can use, but no safe predator-proof housing at night.

Once I process the two wheaten cockerels, there will be a big change in the flock dynamics. Maybe things will calm down. I'm a bit afraid to process two nicer-tempered cockerels to be left with two cockerels that get progressively nastier and more dangerous and be left with no cockerels to protect the little flock of three pullets. I'm getting very tired of worrying about watching my back when I am out in my front where I spend a lot of time.

I've tried a variety of training strategies. When ever they give me the eye or sidle up towards me, I walk directly into them and make them move away. I've carried a bamboo pole to poke them to make them move away fast. I've chased them down (they are faster than I am) and occasionally caught them, grabbed them by the scruff of their neck and shoved their face into the ground, trying to behave the way the aggressive rooster would behave. Yesterday, I was flying my parrots and the most aggressive one was at my feet. I called the parrots with the loud whistle I use and the blue cockerel was a bit surprised and immediately jumped on my legs. I chased him down and managed to kick him in the butt. I hurt my foot, I kicked him so hard and had visions of Bee and Bud. The trouble I'm finding is that the two dominant cockerels work together as a team, so if I am aggressive to one, I have to be really careful the other doesn't defend him at the time or later in the day. They seem to hold a grudge. That's great to protect the flock against predators, but not so great when they protect it against me. I feel that I might be making it all worse--aggression does beget aggression.

I would really appreciate your thoughts on my self-made cockerel problem. I know at least the worst one has to go but he is a beautiful bird, and I am afraid to be left without any cockerel. The sex imbalance will be resolved in the spring when I get another 30 or so straight-run chicks, 20 being from breeds I will not be breeding from so will not be growing out cockerels except to process.

Thanks.

 

[gypsychicken]

It's all hit or miss, very unpredictable. If you take out the aggresive roo's, the "nice" ones may become aggressive, since there is a hole. They might not. You can treat two chick roo's with love and tenderness, and they end up aggresive. Don't blame yourself. It's in the genes. I would take one out, for sure. Two is too much to deal with.

 

[jajeanpierre]

It's all hit or miss, very unpredictable. If you take out the aggresive roo's, the "nice" ones may become aggressive, since there is a hole. They might not. You can treat two chick roo's with love and tenderness, and they end up aggresive. Don't blame yourself. It's in the genes. I would take one out, for sure. Two is too much to deal with.

Thanks so much. Yes, I fear the nicer ones (that are not breeding quality) will start being nasty. They are already looking at me a little sideways. I'll see how it goes after those two ugly ones are processed, but I am not happy to be needing to watch my back. It isn't so bad now--they don't have much in the way of spurs--but it could escalate into something really bad.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I have noticed that my AM roosters are more aggressive in their duties to their girls. They definitely protect theri harem of girls. But are not a problem to me; I didn't raise them but bought them as youngsters.

On the other hand I have a speckled sussex rooster that is over protective at time and have many scars on my legs to witness his agressive strikes. However, among the 8 roosters I have from him, NONE are problem atic. Perhaps it is that I hand raised them. At 6 months or so of age no one is causing me any grief.

My point is, you could use the best roosters, raise up a LOT of chicks and select from the less aggressive boys.